colchisikms

The town of Samaipata has a name, in Quechuan, that means “a place of rest at the top”. This is because it is the halfway point between the lowlands of the East, to the high Andean Incan-ruled regions. The area was originally cultivated, agriculturally, by the Chane peoples who were eventually conquered by the Incans.…

On May 23rd we took a flight to Santa Cruz, out in the flooded eastern areas of Bolivia. It wasn’t a long flight, but the views we had of lush green forests while coming into land at Santa Cruz airport were fantastic. One of the first things we did was take a journey out to…

We arrived in Sucre (2,800 meters, quite a decline in altitude from Potosi) and while I watched our bags in the plaza, Colin found a really fun hotel for us to stay in! It was called the ‘Grand Hotel,’ and its location was fantastic just off the main plaza. Colin even negotiated a good discount…

We traveled to one of the world’s highest cities, Potosi, on the 3rd May. I was a little apprehensive about the journey because of the high altitude, but the super altitude (sorochi) pills I was taking still seemed to be doing the trick. As usual the mountain scenery was a joy to behold, very beautiful…

Colin and I arrived in Tarija early in the morning and found a nice hotel which had a little WIFI for us! We rested for the next few hours, catching up on sleep, and then chose to do a little exploring in the afternoon. Tarija is the wine capital of Bolivia – and just outside…

We had been in the heart of the central Andean plateau for some weeks, including spending many days in Uyuni at over 3700 meters above sea level. Nothing prepared us for the heart-stopping beauty and gut-wrenching fear of our next bus journey across the winding high mountain roads, to our next destination, Tupiza. At a…

For my birthday Colin decided to give me a Bolivia-long birthday treat! He gave me a note on my birthday which said I would be getting a gift in each (main) city we visit while in Bolivia! Awesome. Here is what he surprised me with in each city, along with some photos of the treats!…

There are three tried and tested ways of entering Bolivia from Chile. One is following the Peruvian border along the road from Arica in the very North of the country, another is to cross at San Pedro de Atacama, where we had already been to do a visa run, and the third is the lesser…

After our overnight bus to Calama, one of the driest cities in the world, Colin and I managed to find a hostel in the early hours of the morning. We had decided to return to Calama, and city we previously passed through on the way to San Pedro earlier in the month. Our reason for…

We arrived in the coastal port of Arica on the evening of the 12th April, and settled on one of the first cheap hospedajes we could find. Northern Chile’s Northernmost city is a hub of activity from the port to the university, and includes many immigrants from Peru (the border is very close) and Bolivia…